Around May 28, 1818

Citizens of Staunton, Virginia came together June 15, 1819 to navigate the pitfalls of the antebellum economy. Their official business was to take into consideration the depreciation of the notes of certain banks, for the economy was at the bottom of a large dip - the Panic of 1819. The citizens decided that the notes of the State Bank of North Carolina should no longer be received at normal value,...

John Woods, a boy of less than 18 years, was a member of General Andrew Jackson's army during the First Seminole War in Georgia and Florida. One morning during the war, Woods was standing guard as a picket. As the sun rose, one of his fellow soldiers kindly offered to fill his post, while the hungry Woods made breakfast for himself. While he was cooking, an officer approached him and asked him...

In 1818, Estwick Evans wrote an account of his 4,000 mile long journey from New Hampshire to the recently-established city of Detroit. In his descriptions of the Michigan Territory, he includes references to the state of affairs in terms of the academics, agriculture, tourism, aesthetics, and health of the Territory itself. He also reports on the relative health and sanitary conditions of the...

On July 9, 1819, a Negro man violently attacked and brutally wounded the wife of his master, a Mr. John M. Smith of Alexandria, Louisiana, with the intention to kill her. On the same day as the attack, the slave, whose name was not given, was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. By the next day he was dead.

The relationship between slave and owner teetered on a precarious balance. On one...

The Republican Star and General Advertiser of Easton, Maryland printed an article titled Citizens, Beware of Counterfeiters on March 25, 1817. The article informed the people of Easton that there is a gang of villains now in our borough, who are endeavoring to further a scheme of the most diabolical swindling, by putting into circulation Counterfeit Notes of 50 and 20 on the Union Bank...

It was a marriage of convenience. The problem was that it was not very convenient. During romantic times, the 4'1 Jesse Johnson must have had trouble even kissing his lovely new bride Nancy who stood a modest 6'2. When there were difficulties in the relationship for the Montgomery County, Kentucky pair, Jesse must have hesitated to throw his weight around as he could only muster half of...

Dr. Henry Jackson graduated from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1802. However, after he tried his hand at medicine and was unhappy as a physician, he became professor of sciences and mathematics at Franklin College in Athens within Clarke County. He set up a science laboratory at the blossoming academy. In the late 1810's and early 1820's, he continued his strong relationships that...

On June 21, 1819, newspapers on the East coast began to report on the men of Rapides Parish, in the town of Alexandria, who had begun to mobilize for war against the Spanish controlling the province of Texas on Louisiana's western border. The only trouble was that the United States government had not declared war against Spain. In fact, the governments of the United States and Spain were currently...

After his victory over opponent Rufus King in the election of 1816, James Monroe was inaugurated President of the United States on March 4th, 1817. His first speech as president expounded the glories of the great nation he was now the executive of, but also focused on how he planned to effectively protect it, and from what threats. He planned to further fortify the coasts, borders, and frontiers...

A distressing letter appeared in a New York Paper, The Courier, on February 10, 1817. In it, a gentleman from Natchitoches, Louisiana reported that the Chief of the Caddo Indian Confederacy was plotting a conspiracy with the Spanish officials in Texas. Despite having traveled into the province on mercantile business, the Chief returned spouting adoration for King Ferdinand VII and boasting...